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The voice of Scotland’s vibrant voluntary sector

Published by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations

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TFN poll: should bloodsports be banned?

This poll is about 7 years old
 

Poll: should bloodsports be banned?

Is it now time to ban bloodsports?

Yes
8493
No
2795

There was anger this week after pictures emerged of the mass slaughter of mountain hares in the Highlands.

Hundreds of the animals were wiped out in one shoot in the Cairngorms.

Animal charities reacted with fury and called for the killing to be made illegal.

The outrage follows campaigns to have driven grouse shoots and theshooting of wading birds stopped.

Meanwhile, there have been allegations that fox hunters have been flouting laws banning killing with hounds.

The killing of the hares, along with waders and grouse, is perfectly legal, providing it’s “in season”.

But we’re asking: is it now time to ban bloodsports?

Vote now and get the debate going by leaving a comment below.

Options
Voting in this poll has now closed
 

Comments

0 0
Karen Clarke
about 7 years ago
I find it strange that people enjoy causing the death of another creature that really if given the choice, would have chosen to live. People who have the ability to kill, for entertainment particularly, make me sad and their belief they have the right is worrying. Surely in this day and age we need to move forward and teach people to respect life. #humansrarseholes
0 0
Annette Ashton
about 7 years ago
The sickening level of bloodlust and barbarism is shocking, the disregard for all animal life abhorrent... This is the 21st Century though looking at the frequent images of mass slaughter would suggest we have not evolved at all over the thousands of years man has inhabited this earth!
0 0
JimmyJ
about 7 years ago
Looks very much to me like a load of countryside alliance hoorays don't like a spade being called a spade here. 'Land management' and 'field sports' are anaesthetic euphemisms for the barbaric slaughter of thousands of innocent animals.
0 0
Andrew
about 7 years ago
People who kill animals for their own entertainment are mentally ill.
0 0
Jacquie Hutchins
about 7 years ago
Hunting for food or culling animals with guns is one thing. Hunting with dogs is a slow, tortuous process and the prey animals are just suffering unnecessarily. I can't abide the idea of ANY animals going through prolonged suffering. It's not acceptable. Humanely shooting an animal for food or population control is completely different. I don't eat meat, but I know a lot of people, my friends included who hunt for food. As long as the animal isn' t suffering then I don't judge anyone for hunting for those purposes.
0 0
Paul Nugent
about 7 years ago
As more preditors are removed from our environment the numbers of prey animals increases until they become too large in number for the local environment to support, causing malnutrition and starvation of the animals and damage to the land. This is currently the case for rabbits, deer and hare. The costs of culling these animals is prohibitively expensive. However by organising the culling by volunteers, who are will to pay, this not only controls the population but also puts money into the local economy and allows the maintenance of the land we all enjoy. The field sport industry in Scotland generates revenues of ÂŁ2.5 billion and provides valuable tourism to areas during the winter months. A better target for concerns over animal welfare is perhaps battery farming in all is guises. As an aside, I do not stalk deer but I use the countryside and have first hand experience of the damage they can cause to an area.
0 0
Ageclarke
about 7 years ago
Your title is a bit confusing! You see the term ' blood sports' means different things to different people,I see as blood sports badger baiting,dog fighting,cock fighting! Others like to use this emotive rhetoric to describe what I and many others refer to as ' country sports' i.e. Hunting ,shooting,and fishing,also hunting with hounds is already banned so why have a discussion at all? Or are we to ban trail hunting,bloodhounds,flushing to guns etc as well now?
0 0
Rosslyn Stewart Shearer
about 7 years ago
The wording of this poll is factually incorrect, land management and countryside welfare is deemed a more appropriate wording as the sensationalised wording you have chosen to title this poll with has caused a ridiculous unbiased view as to how necessary professionally trained groups are controlling habitat in the British Isles.
0 0
N Bryant
about 7 years ago
Yes as someone earlier said Bloodsports were banned many years ago and what you are talking about is Field Sports which is very different but unfortunately you are using a very emotive word that no one approves off so re word it and let's have a fair vote
0 0
Trudy
about 7 years ago
My personal belief is that no private citizen should own guns or crossbows. Killing animals for a glorified day out is disgusting. As well as shotguns being a noise nuisance & lead poisoning the ground. Hunters of any description should not be using their weapons to threaten or intimidate anyone else, yet they do frequently. Especially some farmers use the technique to annoy neighbours knowing the law won't admonish them. And use the excuse of private land. So it would seem they are more like dangerous toddlers than responsible adults anyway. If gangs are made to hand in weapons, the same should apply to others. Guns are not toys, and most produce can be a acquired via butchers. There is a real sadistic tendency for hunting these days & it's getting worse, so maybe it should ALL STOP NOW, whilst we still have a bit of wildlife left.
0 0
kev
about 7 years ago
What's this Blood sports ? Blood sports were cock fighting,badger baiting,dog fighting etc .All of which have been outlawed .You just using this wording to stir up bad feeling towards the people who participate in Fieldsports.i have lived in the countryside and participated in fieldsports all my life,I've been lucky to have known and learnt from some real country folk who have forgotten more about the the countryside than the likes of the so called expert Packham will ever know.
0 0
Joseph
about 7 years ago
Blood sports have been illegal in the UK for years, what this poll is referring to are field sports, however blood sports do still happen, i.e fox hunting, badger baiting, hare coursing and so on. These are cruel and highly unnecessary, as the animals are not killed quickly. Field sports are there to control species numbers, like deer, rabbits, grouse and pheasants, granted nature does this herself but it's slow, leaving animals like this will only cause eventual inbreeding, starvation and disease, so keeping the numbers under control are extremely beneficial to the species overall survival. I don't have a problem with it as long as it is a very clean one shot kill and the animals are used afterwards. I've have clicked yes on this poll as illegal blood sports are unfortunately on the increase and the laws need to be seriously re-enforced.
0 0
Jan Bee
about 7 years ago
PLEASE NOTE, this poll is being hijacked by the Tally Ho! pro-illegal foxhunting group on Facebook, they are directing their members here, so the results are far from fair or representative of what the general population think.
0 0
James
about 7 years ago
What a stupid poll! Not only are you asking the question in a biased way, you are adding to the widespread misinformation and blind hatred of anyone involved in managing our countryside and the wildlife in it. Crops and livestock must be protected, and even the RSPB kills birds and animals on its reserves. It's a fact of life. Let's stop spreading hate.
0 0
Isabeau Solace
about 7 years ago
If you want to ban blood sports they you would also have to ban sale of ALL meat products. Lock up every KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Wing Joint and whatever other industry makes its profit off of dead animals. The hypocrisy of a culture of chicken wing loving, burger muching, cheese gnoshing, ice cream loving, bacon worshipping attempting to "ban' the few folks who actually take responsibility to do the killing themselves, is HYSTERICAL.
0 0
Kate Croxford-Adams
about 7 years ago
Definitely NOT!!!
0 0
steve
about 7 years ago
?
0 0
Bruce
about 7 years ago
Bloodsports are banned and should remain so. Fieldsports are perfectly legal and should remain so.
0 0
RealFreedom
about 7 years ago
Tell you what, let's ban people who want to ban things.
0 0
graham mabon
about 7 years ago
continually proven the conservation benefits of what shooting brings to the country without hitting the public purse. deer in scotland are culled heavily for enviromental benefit this is included if a ban was to proceed. and if you take a serious look at where the mountain hare strongholds are they are these are all sporting estates so commit suicide for these animals and loads of red list waders.
0 0
Jo
about 7 years ago
If hunting an animal for your tea is a sport, then so is trying to get round Asda on a Saturday morning without losing your shit. Hunting animals just to see how many you can kill is sociopathy.
0 0
David Achurch
about 7 years ago
Riding to hounds has never been more popular. BOXING DAY MEETS are more popular.
0 0
P Smith
about 7 years ago
Just remember the RSPB legally killed about 400 foxes in 2014/15 across their Reserves. The reason why these animals are allowed to be controlled/managed is to conserve other species. So you are tarring the RSPB with the same brush. As already said ,bloodsports are banned. Due to mans intervention certain species need to culled deer etc. Unfortunately,people jump on too many of so called celebritie's band wagons without research things for themselves.
0 0
Tomatin Moorland Group
about 7 years ago
A poor piece of journalism. Incorrect use of the term 'bloodsport' even at title stage. The hares in the photo, shot in season are managed as part of a program to maintain habitat including young woodland, and control tick. The tick control reduces the burden and presence of louping ill virus. The benefit of these measures does improve red grouse numbers but also has a beneficial effect on the health of the mountain hare population, deer, waders and black grouse, all of which can be adversely affected.Don't doubt that some people are averse to the removal of any creature but land management requires a balance of populations to be maintained. Please research your facts.
0 0
T..Newby
about 7 years ago
There is a lot so the landowners decided to shoot them. It's what happens.
0 0
Tony Whitaker
about 7 years ago
Think about it people, if the practice of culling the population has been going on for many years, and the present population is both numerous and healthy, then what is the argument for leaving the Hares alone? Management is presently working, using a humane method which produces a healthy and accessible foodstuff.
0 0
John Rogers
about 7 years ago
No their not 'allegations' about fox hunting, its factual and many videos and photos have and can prove it. It continues, even though its illegal....and worse than you can imagine! The police know it (even police who ride police horses ride on hunts!), they provide security for the hunters, instead of prosecuting them or defending the sabs! What about all the pets which are killed when the hunts run through gardens? What about all the hounds which are shot by the hunt, or get killed on roads or by trains? Its a vicious circle by demented blood enthusiasts - not for any sort of pest control at all! There is NO place for any form of blood sport in the UK ever. All should hunting and blood sports need to be banned. Shame on anyone who supports, encourages or allows such evil cruelty to happen
0 0
David J.Benham
about 7 years ago
Humans have no right kill other living creatures for fun,you have to be sick in the head to want to do such a cruel thing,for "fun"!
0 0
Dave Smith
about 7 years ago
Blood Sports belong in the dark barbaric ages !
0 0
Frank Gregory
about 7 years ago
The term country sports is misleading, it should be called killing animals and birds for fun and pleasure, sport is when you compete against opponents at the same level. As a boy i always thought the countryside is a safe place for wildlife but not anymore.
0 0
Stopkillinfoxes
about 7 years ago
Shooting for food is not classed as sport , sport is just killing for the fun of it, why cant we throw Fox hunters to 30 pitbulls and see how they like it? and terrier men are just the vilest pieces of garbage life can ever come across.
0 0
Crafty Vixen
about 7 years ago
I always smile when I read the vitriol that comes from the keyboard warriors who enjoy hunting, their desperation shows no bounds. However, I agree that the title 'blood sports' is the wrong term. A sport is between 2 or more sides with all capable of wining. Football is a sport, rugby, tennis and athletics. Since when has a fox been equal to someone on a horse with a pack of dogs? There is nothing sporty about hunting.
0 0
Rose Hakin
about 7 years ago
Although I wouldn't hunt or shoot personally, I do have real reservations about the loss of jobs that a total ban of field sports would involve but I fear reprisals from both sides sometimes
0 0
Jake barrack
about 7 years ago
No, do not ban blood sports everything needs managed sustainabley, I hope I never live to see the day of hunting shooting was to cease.
0 0
Geordie paul davison
about 7 years ago
Oh deary me, are you anti' s having another paddy! Bloodsport??????( wasn't that a film with jean-Claude van damme?) I think what you are trying to refer to is 'Fieldsports' ?! Ok the gloves are off here it comes; Habitat destruction and fragmentation are major drivers of biodiversity loss in the United Kingdom, however landowners that participate in field sports, are more likely to conserve and reinstate woodlands and hedgerows because they are utilized by quarry species. These habitats are essential for the persistence of a wide range of other British wildlife, and consequently it has been suggested that field sports can provide valuable tools for wildlife conservation in the UK, landowners undertake management measures to improve habitats for quarry species, including shrub planting, coppicing and skylighting to encourage understory growth including woodlands that exhibit denser undergrowth and bring a higher abundance of native birds and wildlife to the area. AND THATS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG! I can tell you what should be 'banned' and that is biased journalism that tries to pull the wool over your eyes and gain a few more votes from the unexpecting passerby that really has not much of a clue about wildlife and conservation but just wants to sit down and eat some nice meat without having to think about how or where it came from.
0 0
VeganSympathiser
about 7 years ago
Start by banning the senseless slaughter of the 945 million chickens every year in the UK, that feeds the hypocrites that think they come in packets. So what if some people enjoy shooting a few animals really; the slaughterman you're pretending you don't pay to slit the throat of your Sunday dinner enjoys his work too.
0 0
kim e hayes
about 7 years ago
i see a bunch of god damn morons who cant be bothered to use supermarkets for food. drop dead all animal killers this is the year 2017 not 1017. get on ur bike and get off my island if ur an animal killer as i will god dman kick ur ass if i ever see ya
0 0
Barry Brand
about 7 years ago
Most people do not understand or choose not to understand the positive conservation and care of British wildlife the Country Sports followers contribute. Blind condemnation of, so called "blood sports" is ignorance. The term " blood sports" is incorrect when referring to legal Country Sports. It seems people are happy to tuck into a chicken which has never seen the light of day but decry someone shooting a free roaming pheasant or other game bird, then eating it as some sort of crime against wild life. 95% of the chicken sold in Supermarkets has never left the Barn. Campaign about the quality of life of the chicken in the barn if you want to contribute to animal/birdlife care.
0 0
Phil
about 7 years ago
Linking the violent death of animals with the word "sport" is bad enough but actually supporting or taking part in this barbaric activity is a sign of mental sickness
0 0
Mark Cooper
about 7 years ago
It's blood lust not blood "sport"The countryside can look after itself. It doesn't need deranged mentally unstable individuals claiming to do so.What a sick world we live in
0 0
Christine Metcalfe
about 7 years ago
Killing an animal is NOT sport it's barbaric
0 0
Julia
about 7 years ago
yes it should be confined to the annals of history like bull baiting etc. there is no place in a modern world for such barbarity
0 0
Lexi
about 7 years ago
A sport would imply two (or more) equal and willing competitors who are fully are of the rules. Hunting is just torturing animals for some perverse enjoyment.
0 0
Laura Hackett
about 7 years ago
I think it is long passed time to ban blood sports. It's not just the target animals which suffer, but also any animals deemed a threat to the livelihoods of gamekeepers. Snares are set, birds of prey are shot or poisoned. Whatsmore, non-target animals for those snares and traps are also harmed. A snare can't tell the difference between the fox it is meant for and the badger, rabbit or even pet cats and dogs which wander passed! Many of our birds of prey species are in decline and it is illegal to kill them, yet it goes on anyway. It is illegal to hunt foxes with dogs, yet it goes on anyway. Those in the blood sport industry show little regard for the laws they flout or the animals they harm (and that often includes fox hounds and hunting horses as much as the foxes, grouse, hares, raptors and sundry snare victims).
0 0
mike cook
about 7 years ago
this so called "sport" is barbaric and should have been banned years ago animals have as much right on this land of ours as we have in fact more because they were here long before man
0 0
Sue Farr
about 7 years ago
There is no place in these times for the cruelty and perversion of blood sports.
0 0
CHRISTINE TAYLOR
about 7 years ago
I was shocked by th image of dead mountain hares, I had no idea this took place. Mountain hares are not predatory animals I can't understand the justification offered for killing them.Bloodthirsty people need to move with the times and realise there is no place for this cruelty.
0 0
Douglas Gray
about 7 years ago
What ever happened to to pluralism? So much intolerance around today . Rural economy is a fragile thing . Blood sport ban is another example of the cultural hegemony of the left proscribing every aspect of the world they disapprove . Universities are no longer the beacon of enlightenment . Was on Cairngorm plateau last weekend . I seemed to be surrounded by mountain hares . A veritable jugfull . Delicious !
0 0
James fleming
about 7 years ago
It is a CULL of hares it's not a sport. Nobody enjoys doing it but it has to be done or it wouldn't be done. The reason it looks so horrific (which nobody argue that it doesnt) is because most estates have just 1 hare CULL a year when neighbouring keepers and shooters will come and help to cover all the ground in 1 day. Few estates will shoot hares on grouse days, definitely not stalking days and the keepers won't have time during the rest of the year to put the man hours in to keep the population healthy.
0 0
Sally Mander
about 7 years ago
This is cruelty in the name of entertainment.
0 0
scotlinc
about 7 years ago
Its usual practice in a democracy to put forward both sides of an argument before asking people to vote.
0 0
Terry Robinson
about 7 years ago
Legalised cruelty, which should now be part of history from past darker times.
0 0
boulter
about 7 years ago
I vote to end all bloodsports & will not be voting for any party that allows this barbaric pastime to continue. Please note all political parties others feel the same way.
0 0
Carol Daborn
about 7 years ago
I am sijk to death of the few people who are involved in the barbarous practice excusing it as a "sport", it is not a sport it is a hideous excuse for blood lust and we call ourselves civilised, what a sick joke.
0 0
Kathleen Smith
about 7 years ago
Yes of course it's time for vile bloodsports to be banned. There's nothing sporting about a group of hunters, a pack of hounds and terriermen chasing to exhaustion and killing one small mammal. It belongs in the last century along with bear baiting and sending small children up chimneys. It's nothing to do with wildlife management . They breed foxes to chase and kill. They train hounds by throwing fox cubs to them. Weak hound puppies don't make it to adulthood and those who can't keep up with the pack get a bullet in the brain. They are vile cruel sadistic inadequate human beings.
0 0
Christopher carr
about 7 years ago
No hunting and shooting should not be banned as its a way of conservation
0 0
Dot green
about 7 years ago
It's high time mankind learnt to do the right thing and quell the selfish drive that seems to govern the urge to kill
0 0
Tina Starr
about 7 years ago
Killing for the pleasure of it is not sport. It tests no strength, no ability, there is nothing to respect or admire. Ban it. Clay shooting is at least a test of some skill.
0 0
Stuart Tabernor
about 7 years ago
Blood sports are a vital commodity to the national environment, habitats and economy
0 0
Pat Callaghan
about 7 years ago
Blood sports are cruel barbaric and medieval and banned in our country and the police should uphold this law and prosecute the offenders and get them stopped instead of pussyfooting round them because they have money
0 0
Penny knight
about 7 years ago
Those people that think it's okay to cause so much distress and pain to animals that have a right to be on this planet are a shame to the human population. They are cruel and barbaric and need to wake up to this fact and stop.
0 0
Katherine Sampson
about 7 years ago
Yes it should be banned! We have surely evolved past this??!!
0 0
Philippa Hill
about 7 years ago
Apperently my vote was INVALID
0 0
Ron Rover
about 7 years ago
To the people complaining about the 'level of bias,' this poll has been bandied around pro hunting groups to tip the result in favour of 'bloodsports' .....and failed.
0 0
mrpip
about 7 years ago
It is very sad that people get some kind of happiness from taking the life of another creature. It is one thing if you are forced to kill to survive, but that is clearly not the case. I question the mentality of anyone who gets joy from the suffering of something living.
0 0
Mick
about 7 years ago
Why can't you people leave us alone,
0 0
Beate Romey
about 7 years ago
Kein Mensch hat hier auf diesem Planeten irgendwelche Rechte ein anderes Lebewesen zu quälen oder zu töten. Die Spezies Mensch ist hier sowieso nur geduldet, nicht mehr !!!!
0 0
Darren Gregory
about 7 years ago
Country management is important to help other mammals, insects and bird thrive in the wild. Also so farmers lose a lot of money due to crop damage would it be ok for me to steal from you and it not be an issue. Take time to think about this as I can understand people don't like hunting vermin/pest control and I'm not asking them to just to understand why it's done. Most people who hunt shoot of control vermin/pest carry it out in a very professional and humane manner. Blood sport is total the wrong wording for this. It is purely countryside management.
0 0
Darren Gregory
about 7 years ago
Country management is important to help other mammals, insects,plants and birds thrive in the wild. Also so farmers lose a lot of money due to crop damage would it be ok for me to steal from you and it not be an issue. Take time to think about this as I can understand people don't like hunting vermin/pest control and I'm not asking them to just to understand why it's done. Most people who hunt shoot of control vermin/pest carry it out in a very professional and humane manner. Blood sport is totally the wrong wording for this. It is purely countryside management.
0 0
Stan Rawlinson
about 7 years ago
The problem with all these anti-field sports and shooting is they have no idea how the countryside is managed and the conservation issues that arise with field sports.Shooting and conservation go hand in hand. The majority of hand-wringing snowflakes mainly from left of centre in politics are town dwellers and rarely venture into the countryside>Therefore how would these people understand the need to cull an overpopulation or realise then pheasant shooting is the best way to get a game bird to the table, As it benefits the countryside and nature rather than keeping them in stacked cages 20 feet high.being defecated and urinated on.BTW many of the pheasants live out their life without being shot and given they are not a native bird of the UK they would never have lived unless we carefully bred and released themWith Chickens, they are strung upside down on a conveyor hook and have their throats cut. none ever escape many die of diseases or acid burns from dripping urine before that happens.So tell me again which would you prefer to be a Pheasant on a Chicken?
0 0
Stan Rawlinson
about 7 years ago
The problem with all these anti-field sports and shooting is they have no idea how the countryside is managed and the conservation issues that arise with field sports.Shooting and conservation go hand in hand. The majority of hand-wringing snowflakes mainly from left of centre in politics are town dwellers and rarely venture into the countryside.Therefore how would these people understand the need to cull an overpopulation or realise then pheasant shooting is the best way to get a game bird to the table, As it benefits the countryside and nature rather than keeping them in stacked cages 20 feet high.being defecated and urinated on.BTW many of the pheasants live out their life without being shot and given they are not a native bird of the UK they would never have lived unless we carefully bred and released themWith Chickens, they are strung upside down on a conveyor hook and have their throats cut. none ever escape many die of diseases or acid burns from dripping urine before that happens.So tell me again which would you prefer to be a Pheasant on a Chicken?
0 0
Barbara A Steward
about 7 years ago
Hares are such a British tradition, they are beautiful to observe and have a right to live, we have NO right to kill them and should not want too. The people that took part in amassing a van full of dead bodies, snatched from their habitat, should be ashamed to themselves, such cowardice, a gun is no match for a small four legged creature, disgraceful.
0 0
DWJS
about 7 years ago
Killing animals for "entertainment" is so out of date. The greenwash of the shoots that they are conservationists has also been shown to be false. The game shooting is just big business that empolys killing of predators as part of it. However the hunt lobby wish to nit pick over terms instead of a ddressing the majorities concerns.
0 0
K Varnfield
about 7 years ago
Could war be considered a blood sport.
0 0
Lucy Ramlochun
about 7 years ago
There should never be a 'sport' in killing.
0 0
James Albaya
about 7 years ago
these "sportsmen" cant and wont live along side wildlife -to the extent that they are now a major contributor to the rapid decline of species like hen harrier -Time to consign it all to history Ban the lot, confiscate weapons and jail law breakers
0 0
Alan Orgill
about 7 years ago
Blood sports are sick and perverted and all should be banned NOW!
0 0
MR David Coles
about 7 years ago
anyone who thinks that blood sport should continue want to find something more constructive with their spare time-"the devil makes use of idle hands!.
0 0
ruth knowlton
about 7 years ago
Hunting with dogs is banned is it not ? So...why is it not stopping and why are there few if any prosecutions. Is this some form of rich peoples' influence and pressure..Anyone with an ounce of humanity must see the idiotic and merciless pursuit of wild animals simply to see them die is as outdated as the guillotine..gory and bloodthirsty ..not acceptable however the hunters try to defend themselves.
0 0
Scarlet Fox
about 7 years ago
"Field Sport" "Bloodsport", is not sport, it's cold blooded murder! I've never heard such a lot of idiotic twaddle from wildlife terrorists, because that's what these murderers are.This planet also belongs to animals. We are lucky to have beautiful wildlife and then a minority sector of this country's population derive sick sadistic pleasure from killing them as they're nothing but a bunch of cowards who are very brave with weapons. They want to shoot, then go clay pigeon shooting or get a camera!Those animals also have families and feel pain and suffering. Most of them also mate for life! Shame on those wildlife terrorists, they must feel so unloved and psychologically deranged they have to come up with excuses to murder animals as they think it boosts their ego; wrong it just goes to prove the sort of pathetic poor excuse of person they actually are.
0 0
Mel
about 7 years ago
YES it is time all theses evil blood sports were band, I did hear that they going to bring back the wild cat and let loose in Scotland , it this so that these evil beings will have a new wild animals to hunt, I understand that some of the wild animals have to kept under control, but not for so called fun for the rich ,or to be ripped apart by dogs, Also Hares are supposed to be in decline in some areas. And yet on this article there is a picture of a pick up loaded up wth dead hares. Something must be done to stop this slaughter .
0 0
Ian Drabik-Hamshare
about 7 years ago
It is illegal but the law is widely ignored. It's about time the offenders are properly punished and publicly shamed.
0 0
Abigail Bagnall
about 7 years ago
Qualify "bloodsports"? Er... ultimate goal is the blood and/or death of another. Simple.
0 0
Sue price
about 7 years ago
Blood sports should be banned,how can it be a sport when one side is at a disadvantage. There is no place for this disgusting barbaric cruelty in the modern world, it's not a sport it is a blood lust.......
0 0
julie mcquillan
about 7 years ago
Hunting and killing animals and birds is not sport. It is just cowardice, as these animals are defenceless against dogs and guns and traps.
0 0
michael
about 7 years ago
i always thought sport was a thing in which 2 teams or individuals competing both have a chance of winning and not where some poor animal ends up dead!
0 0
nd
about 7 years ago
No, of course they shouldn't, as they are a way of controlling animal populations. Thus allowing the survival of the species as a whole. In addition, it provides a much needed source of income for rural communities.
0 0
Bethan Jones
about 7 years ago
We are supposedly intelligent beings therefore there are more effective ways of managing the land and keeping populations of wild animals to safe and responsible numbers in a much more humane way! Fox hunting with hounds has been banned but some country folk don't adhere to that law, calling anything a sport where a person has a gun to kill or Maine and who thinks they are doing the rest of us a favour is not a sport but a barbaric and outdated event. Breeding birds for people to kill is not management of land but a blood sport starving hounds to send them out to rip a fox apart is a blood sport, breeding deer to make money off idiots who want to kill them is a blood sport! So don't try to tell me you're out there managing the land when you've paid to have someone breed these animals for you to shoot for your kicks and jolly good fun, because that is total bull manure!
0 0
Michael Rodbourn
about 7 years ago
These so called events are truly barbaric and should be banned immediately
0 0
Caroline Butt
about 7 years ago
I can't believe blood sports continue in a modern civilisation. It is a barbaric medieval practice.
0 0
Dave Crompton
about 7 years ago
It's not ANY kind of sport, blood/field/anything. Sport is competitive, this Is just slaughtering animals then pretending it's for a "noble" cause.
0 0
Peter J. KIng
about 7 years ago
If it weren't disgusting it would be amusing, the number of people here who react with anger and horror at their fun in killing and maiming living things being labelled "bloodsport". It's "field sports", because nothing's involved but fields... no blood, oh dear me no.
0 0
Dave Crompton
about 7 years ago
There is no sport of any kind. It's pure slaughter
0 0
John
about 7 years ago
Just because you don't do something, or don't understand why others do it does not mean it should be banned. I probably disagree with a lot you do, because I don't like it should you be prevented from doing it?
0 0
Trenchfoot
about 7 years ago
Bloodsports have been banned in the UK for decades, if not centuries. What you are referring to are field sports. The use of the term bloodsports does little more than show the bias with which this poll has been driven by.
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Jim Crint
about 7 years ago
I control deer in a local authority owned wood in Southern England and I also go deer stalking in Scotland and I will continue to enjoy my sport that provides, healthy, sustainable food for my family and friends and if you antis don't like it then I don't give a toss.
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Ben
about 7 years ago
Wow the level of bias here is no better than the britain first echo chamber. Blood sports? Qualify "blood sports"
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Robert smith
about 7 years ago
You never mentioned the killing of the red kites ect on the black isle when the rspb fed them contaminated carcases.
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Harvey
about 7 years ago
NO Leave country sports alone. They play a part in conservation of habitats, pest control, rural employment and social activity. I don't credit anti bloodsports people with any animal welfare credibility. There are some real animal welfare issues out there which they readily overlook. Truth is, they are people haters.... they detest people who shoot and hunt because they just hate 'the tpe'. They are bitter twisted bigots.
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A Turpin
about 7 years ago
Wildlife management is vital to a healthy countryside. The Term bloodsports exposes this poll as a biast piece indeed. How can you expect to get a true result with this kind of journalism?
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